Saturday, 12 September 2009

A SAVAGE MIND

Unwinding in a cavernous bodega he suddenlyBurst out:--Barman, these tumblers empty themselvesAnd yet I persist; I am wedged in the giant eyeOf an invisible needle. Walking through doorsOr into them, listening to anecdotes or myself spinningA yarn, I realize my doom is never to forgetMy lost bearings. In medias res we beginAnd end: I was born, and then my body unfurledAs if to illustrate a few tiny but effective words--But--oh my oh my--avaunt. I peeredForth, stupefied, from the bushes as the sun setBehind distant hills. A pair of hungry owlsSaluted the arrival of webby darkness; the dewDescended upon the creeping ferns. At firstMy sticky blood refused to flow, gathering insteadIn wax-like drops and pools; mixed with water and a dramOf colourless alcohol it thinned and reluctantlyEbbed away. I lay emptied as a fallenLeaf until startled awake by a blinding flashOf dry lightning, and the onset of this terrible thirst.